Sunday, March 10, 2013

Project Dance Houston!!! (by Daniel Cossette)

Project Dance is one of my favorite events in the Ad Deum calendar year. We are blessed to regularly participate in at least two: New York City, and of course Houston. Sometimes we trickle around to Atlanta, Phoenix, and London too. But Houston is home, and so we end up producing most of the event. It's such a blessing!

Dani--Don't Let the Sun Go Down

This year the blessing of the Lord was so obvious! You know, when you have a 7 hour dance festival, there's a lot of opportunity for things to go wrong: weather, schedule, technical stuff, props, flooring, music failure, people (being late), people (breaking body parts)... I'm one of the stage managers for the Houston event (with Tiffany Schrepferman) and we stare all of these variables in the face as we bravely plot our event, and develope the 7-hour show order. We, therefore, plan to leave 5-10 minutes of buffer time every hour in the highly likely event of... trouble. This year the show was stacked full to the brim--rather to our dismay--but there was nothing to do. We had so much stuff to get in, and there wasn't time for "buffer time."

Andreas, breakdancing

But we went ahead anyway, and let me tell you want God did: The Lord shone down on every aspect.

The weather: was perfect. cloudy, pleasant.
The technical stuff: Perfect.
The flooring: no problem--it was down in time, and bubble free!
Music failure: zero.
People (being late): no one!
People (breaking body parts): nobody!
The schedule: miracle of miracles! We started on time, we ran on time, and ... we got AHEAD of schedule!
When was the last time you were at a dance festival or convention when things ran ahead of schedule?

And props: only one funny here, and it ended up making it even more fun! Ad Deum's physical theatre work called Green Man, has physio balls, and foam noodles. It was so windy, that the balls and noodles kept blowing away. Tiffany and a couple others had to hide behind the stage to keep the balls from blowing off the back into the fountain pond behind us!!! Whenever the dancers released a ball, they had no idea where it was going, and everyone was just laughing the whole way through the wild and crazy piece!

Tiffany, handing off a runaway ball

But better than all that, God's presence came and rested over Discovery Green where we danced. We felt so much freedom and joy. Thousands of people were in the park because of kids events, and conferences that were happening simultaneously.

One homeless man stopped and sat down and watched for hours. Several people from Project Dance offered him food, and money if he needed it. But he waved them off gently, eyes glued to the stage, saying, "This is all I need!"

Green Man

Tiffany and I wanted to honor the Lord first and obvious, so we put sister company Arrows International, both first and last to open and close the show. They did a powerful, beautiful, worship dance called Sekinah Glory, choreographed by their leaders Jeff and Natalie Lewis. God's presence came down on the green. Everybody got up off the lawn, out of their chairs, and were jumping up and down worshipping God. When it was done, one lady, who was walking through the green just to get some food from the carnival vendors, joined in the dancing! Afterwards she handed her plate to a friend and said, "I don't even need that food anymore!"

Ginger and Jocelyn, Pray You Through

Througout the day, the children in the park kepts coming to watch, and many came up on the side of the stage where there was a tiny platform. They began to dance too. But not only dancing randomnly. They began to mimic the dancers. Child after child would come up, and watch the show, emulating the kicks, turns, falls, and the power of the dancers! It was beautiful to see their child-like joy and freedom. There was no segregation. They danced from every nationality and religion, and their parents came with them, and were smiling and enjoying the show. The park became a house of prayer for all nations that day!

Stella, dancing in the Sun. (Look close: see the little child in the purple, dancing off the far side of the stage...?)

One little girl named Alex stole our hearts. She comes to Houston regularly for medical treatment for a neuromuscular disorder called Rettsyndrone. But the brightness in her eyes and smile watching the dance filled our hearts with joy!

Abby and Lara with little Alex

For me, it was the favor of the Lord. His blessing made everything run so smooth. And I left so energized and filled. It was beautiful. God is so good. And it was amazing to watch him bless the city of Houston so richly.

About Ad Deum

Ad Deum is contemporary dance and physical theatre, a visual fusion of moving image and dramatic presentation. Passion, flowing grace and fierce athleticism abound as these artists explore the mysteries of faith, grace and redemption through the freedom created by God for the expressions of the human body, soul, and spirit. Our works are both relevant and redemptive - creating dance that is excellent and has something important to offer to everyone.